She came out fifteen minutes later, following a man who must've been the overseer. Charon silently went to her side as soon as the man had passed him. They all headed back down to the infirmary, and the man hugged his daughter.

"Amata, I've been a fool. I was so blinded by the way things were that I refused to see the way things needed to be. I've decided to pass on the position of vault overseer to you." He turned to Anastasia.

"Thank you, for showing me the folly of my ways." He turned and left the room. Amata ran over and hugged Anastasia.

"Anastasia, thank you so much! I'm going to let people come and go from the vault as they please, now. I'll clean this place up, with your help. But Ana…" Ana pulled back from her hug and took a step back. She knew her friend well enough to know when she had bad news. "I want you to stay for a day or so, help clean up and talk for a while, but then…I'll need you to leave. Your presence is even now causing commotion in he vault; there are a lot of people that consider you a traitor, a threat." Anastasia stiffened.

"I understand." Amata looked down. Amata knew it was not okay, but there wasn't anything else to say at the moment.

"You can sleep in your old apartment. I'll be up there later after things are back to normal." Ana immediately turned heel and walked out briskly. Charon followed her.

She slowed down a bit after a little while. At some point, the lights came back on, and Charon spotted the tears swelling in her eyes. Finally, they arrived at her old home, and she stepped in. As soon as the door closed behind them, she broke down, falling to the floor and covering her face with her hands. Charon didn't know what to do, so he put his hand out for her to take. She did, and then stood and cried into his shoulder.

"I…I'm sorry. I d-didn't…want you to s-see me this way…" she sobbed. He put his arms around her.

"There's no shame in crying." She sniffled and laughed, wiping her eyes.

"Thanks, Charon." She said, and hugged him tightly. He said nothing. She pulled away from him and looked around. "Nothing's changed. They left it just as it was." She murmured, walking over to her room, seeing the papers on the floor from when she'd rummaged through her desk, looking for anything helpful before she'd escaped. The covers on her bed were still thrown aside. She noticed Charon standing in the doorway. "You can come in." she said, smiling at his hesitation. "Look, this is a picture of my father and mother. This one's a bad picture of me on my 10th birthday…I'd just beaten the crap out of this kid, Butch, you can see him crying in the background. We were friends in the end; I saved his mother's life…" Anastasia suddenly became keenly aware of how close Charon was to her, looking over her shoulder at these pictures of her past… She turned to him, looking at his face.

He was quite handsome, for a ghoul. His nose and ears were gone, but otherwise his skin just seemed to have a reddish tint to it, but it was still there so he was better off than a lot of other ghouls. His eyes had a thin blue film over them, but he saw fine. Their eyes met.

He wanted so bad to kiss her, to repeat what had happened in Tenpenny Tower. Would she pull away? Did what happened in Tenpenny Tower mean anything to her?

She wished he'd just lean in and kiss her right now; she'd been bold enough to in Tenpenny Tower, emboldened by adrenaline, but at the moment all she wanted is for him to kiss her, right here, right now.

Amata knocked and entered and Anastasia moved over to meet her, leaving Charon wishing he could make up his mind about her.

They sat down in the small living room, and Anastasia found herself wishing for her own living room, not the metallic walls of the vault.

"So tell me everything; I want to know what's really out there, because my father's obviously been lying to us if you returned." Amata said but Anastasia held up a finger.

"Hold on. Charon?"

"Yes?"

"Go take a nice shower; the bathroom is right off of my father's room."

"As you wish." He said, then moved out, praying that he'd actually know how to turn it on and not have to ask.

"So…what's his deal?"

"Believe me, you'll learn about it in due time, but I'll start at the beginning, after the vault door closed behind me…"

Anastasia told her everything. Megaton, the nukes, raiders, mutants, all the people she'd met, everywhere she'd been, and how far she'd gotten on the search for her father.

"So, you know he's in this particular vault, you just can't find it?" Amata asked, and Anastasia nodded.

"I searched anywhere else that he might be; the trail goes cold. He has to be in that vault right now. From what I've heard, it never opened either. They went silent only a few weeks after the war." Amata nodded.

"I think I remember seeing a map of the vault's locations in the overseer's office. I'll get it and bring it to you tomorrow before you leave. It's not like I'll need it."

"Thanks, Amata."

"No problem, now tell me about…what's his name again?"

"Charon?" Amata nodded, and Anastasia sat back. "Where do I begin?"